To avoid future service cuts, BART should plan ahead

Riders and the Warm Springs BART station on first day of service, Saturday, March 25, 2017 in Fremont, CA.

Photo: Eric Kayne, Special to The Chronicle

BART’s long-suffering riders can breathe a sigh of relief. Facing a multimillion-dollar budget gap, BART officials were planning to slash service and raise prices on certain classes of tickets. But a last-minute influx of state transportation dollars will allow BART to avoid the worst of the cuts.

Thanks to an extra $16 million from the state, BART won’t have to cut early morning service or raise prices on the discounted fares that seniors and people with disabilities pay to ride the system.

While some rider cuts will still be necessary — youth fares are still rising, and it’s going to cost more to use a paper ticket than a Clipper card — riders will now have a smoother ride for at least one more year.

“Having the extra $16 million from the state will reduce our deficit by about 47 percent, which is very reassuring,” said Carter Mau, BART’s planning and budget manager.

But how long can the reprieve last?

BART still has a deficit of about $30 million this year, and the agency is facing serious headwinds — including new, costly extensions (like the Warm Springs stop, where the escalators have already briefly broken).

Ridership has declined, especially on weekends. New transportation options — especially Uber and Lyft — have bitten into profits from BART’s airport stations. Customer satisfaction with the system is at a 20-year low, according to the transit agency’s own customer surveys.

The system could be faced with cuts again very soon.

Mau said the key will be to increase ridership — something he’s confident BART will be able to do.

“The new cars will improve capacity and the rider experience, and that’s going to make a world of difference for this agency,” he said. The other good news is that the state transportation bill will increase the level of BART’s funding for the next 10 years.

That means BART officials have time to plan ahead — and we urge them to do so.

In particular, officials should make plans that will allow the system to avoid service cuts, which will erode ridership even further.